February’s brilliant moments, as seen on Instagram

Following on from our round-up in January, it’s time to take a look at some more of the great #brilliantmoments photos you’ve been taking and sharing in February. We’ve had a stunning response over the last month with a range of images capturing the seasonality of February perfectly, from snow covered vistas to forests carpeted in snowdrops.

It was a tough task for our photo experts but after much deliberation they’ve managed to whittle February’s Moments of the Day down to just six exceptional images. You can have a look at our favourites below, along with comments from one of VisitScotland’s photo experts on what made them stand out.

Photogenic Edinburgh Castle is quite literally cast in a new light by this striking purple and orange sunrise, snapped by @balthazarquinn. As our photo expert says: ‘This is such an atmospheric photograph of Edinburgh Castle at sunrise. The angle and colour of the clouds give a sense of foreboding. The composition of the church in front of the castle adds to the overall tension in the picture.’

Carnethy 5 Hill Race, Pentland Hills

Pentland Hills race

@mikearthur7b0 captures a moment in time with this great photo of the Carnethy 5 Hill Race in the Pentland Hills, which saw these passionate runners scaling five summits over 6 miles and achieving a total climb of 2,500 ft. Our expert loved the sense of scale in this picture. ‘Individually the runners are minuscule but together they form a long chain of coloured dots which snake off into the distance filling the landscape from top to bottom.’

Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness

Urquhart Castle

With its wonderful fairytale quality, it’s not surprising that this beautiful photo of Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, taken by @weencentt, has received more likes than any other so far. Our photo expert liked the different perspective on this iconic castle. ‘Looking down from a height we see the commanding views over Loch Ness and the winding walls and paths which help form the boundaries of this impressive fortress.’

Northern Lights, Thurso

Northern Lights over Dunnottar Castle, near Stonehaven

Northern Lights

As many of you will already know, at the end of February we were treated to an awe-inspiring burst of Aurora Borealis activity which could be seen in many places all over Scotland. These photos, taken by @hai_huynh and @philipjbruce, are stunning examples of this amazing natural wonder in full force. We love the effect of the dramatic Northern Lights against the clear starry sky in both these pictures and couldn’t agree more with our photo expert who had just one word: ‘jealous!’

The photos of your 2014 Scottish adventures have been brilliant so far – so please do keep them coming for a chance to be featured as our Moment of the Day. Simply follow @visitscotland and tag your pics as #brilliantmoments on Instagram. Good luck!